One of the most relevant actions for the Caribbean sub-region accomplished in 2014 was undoubtedly the adoption of the Caribbean Action Plan for World Heritage 2014-2019, at the meeting organised for the purpose in Havana, Cuba, 26-28 November by the UNESCO Offices in Havana (Cuba), Kingston (Jamaica) and the World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with the UNESCO Office in Port-au-Prince (Haiti) and with the financial support of the Netherlands Funds-in-Trust. Issues no. 11 of the periodical magazine Culture and Development and no. 12 of the Newsletter of the Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean were dedicated to this action, which will become a key tool for the protection, conservation and management of the diverse cultural and natural heritage in the sub-region, as well as for the better implementation of the 1972 Convention and its Operational Guidelines during the next five years.

The CCBP is a long-term training programme, implemented by the Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Havana, in close coordination with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the UNESCO Offices in Kingston and Port-au-Prince. Its implementation began in 2004 when the First Periodic Report on the Application of the Convention in Latin America and the Caribbean recommended the elaboration of effective measures to strengthen capacities in the States Parties. In 2013, with the presentation of the Second Periodic Report on the Application of the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean, the first CCBP cycle came to an end. The UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Havana, with the financial support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, conducted an evaluation of the CCBP in June 2014. The Sub-Regional Meeting on the Caribbean Action Plan for World Heritage 2014-2019 was organised in the framework of this project.

Likewise, the declaration of 2014 as International Year of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) by the UN General Assembly deserved special attention. A relevant action in that framework was the organisation of a Capacity Building on Heritage Conservation in Caribbean SIDS (Philipsburg, St. Maarten, 8-13 May 2014). In addition, one of the activities organised by the UN System in Cuba as part of the 2014 Book Fair programme was an inter-agency panel on the SIDS, moderated by the UNESCO representative. The Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean dedicated a webpage to this issue, with documents of interest as well as information on the international events held in honour of the Year and the actions developed in favour of SIDS by the Culture sector of the UNESCO Office in Havana.

2014 was also the final year of the project Heritage Recovery and Cultural Development in Havana: Segundo Cabo Palace, a cooperation initiative implemented since 2010 by the European Union (EU), UNESCO and the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana. The Project was aimed at restoring this emblematic monument located in the Historic Centre of Old Havana (a city inscribed on the World Heritage List with its System of Fortifications). The building will house the Centre for the Interpretation of Cultural Relations between Cuba and Europe. During this intense final year, the construction work was periodically monitored and the site was visited by important personalities linked to the project, such as Ms Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, and the Director of UNESCO Havana.

The most outstanding actions in 2014 were: the participation in the activities commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Cuban city of Camagüey, inscribed on the World Heritage List; the support for the XII Meeting on Management of Historic Centres, annually organised by the Master Plan for the Integral Revitalising of Old Havana of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana (OHCH); the participation in the workshop UNESCO and Heritage: what, how, when, where, and why to report about it?, held in the Cuban capital as part of the fourth diploma course Media to Communicate Heritage, a capacity-building activity organised by the OHCH, the José Martí International Institute of Journalism and the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture; the participation in the Conference on Heritage and Communication, organised in Cienfuegos by the Office of the Conserver of this Cuban city, inscribed on the World Heritage List; and the lecture given by a UNESCO specialist in the first edition of the National Workshop on Military Heritage held in Havana. The Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean disseminated some 130 relevant actions implemented in the region aimed at the protection of this heritage and at the application of 1972 Convention. Some of these initiatives were implemented in Argentina, Brazil, Central America (a sub-regional initiative), Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The Portal also offered information on the 38th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, held in Doha, Qatar, 15-25 June 2014.

As part of its work against this scourge, the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean conducted a panel in the framework of the Book Fair Cuba 2014, on the occasion of the launching of Culture and Development issue no. 10, especially dedicated to this topic. Likewise, in collaboration with the UNESCO Office in Port-au-Prince, UNESCO Havana participated in the regional cooperation action implemented to protect cultural heritage in danger in Haiti. The Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean disseminated the international campaign Your Actions Count–Be a Responsible Traveller, as well as the best practices in the region to strengthen that struggle, such as the publication in Peru of No robes el pasado (Don't Steal the Past), a technical tool to prevent the illicit trafficking of cultural property; the launching in Uruguay and Argentina of the UNESCO Programme for the Prevention and Control of the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Goods; the organisation in Peru of the 1st Capacity-Building Workshop and the 3rd International Workshop for the Prevention and Control of the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Goods; the Workshop on Illicit Trafficking and the actions taken in Venezuela to fight against it. The Portal also echoed the local and international concern for the theft of works of art in Cuba and Guatemala and reported the recovery of cultural heritage artefacts stolen from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

The UNESCO Office in Havana dedicates special attention to stress the value of culture for sustainable development and the Post-2015 agenda, high priority themes for the Organisation. Issue no. 10 of the periodical magazine Culture & Development was released in 2014 and issue no. 11 dedicated to Cultural Heritage in the Caribbean was published the same year. UNESCO Havana actively participated in the debate on the Post-2015 agenda sponsored by the Cuban civil society and organised a meeting in Holguín with cultural sector experts to analyse the value of culture for human development. The Office also presented its institutional promo Culture=Economic Development in the framework of events such as the Cuban Festival of Low-Budget Cinema. In addition, as part of the Book Fair Cuba 2014 programme, the book Plants Used for Arts & Crafts in Cuba was launched, a result of the capacity-building workshops For a Better Product, developed by UNESCO Havana as part of the Joint Programme Support for New Decentralization Initiatives and Production Stimulation in Cuba. The Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean has continued to improve its webpage on Culture & Development and has also disseminated the information on this topic issued by UNESCO Headquarters and Member States in the region. The Portal highlighted the results of the II CELAC Summit as well as the outcomes of its II Meeting of Ministers of Culture aimed at strengthening culture as a driving force for development. It also disseminated information on events linked to this topic in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as the first regional meeting of the Market of Cultural Industries of the South (MICSUR). The Third UNESCO World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries - Culture works for sustainable development and the Florence Declaration, adopted at the Forum, were widely disseminated by the Portal, as well as the 2014 Calls for funding by both the UNESCO International Fund for the Promotion of Culture (IFPC) and International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD), which made it possible to present some projects from the region. Also featured in the Portal were actions considered best cultural practices for development in Latin American and Caribbean Member States, such as Argentina, Bahamas, Chile, Colombia (Bogotá and Antioquia) Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.

The project Strengthening national capacities for effective safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti successfully ended in 2014. It was organised by the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, in collaboration with corresponding cultural institutions and National Commissions for the Organisation in the beneficiary countries and with the generous contribution of the Kingdom of Norway. In this last year of implementation, several actions were taken in the above-mentioned Member States. They began with the Workshop on the Implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Santiago de Cuba, 11-14 February, 2014) and continued in the Dominican Republic with the activities to obtain the consent of the communities bearing the intangible heritage expressions in order to participate in the Workshop on Community-Based Inventorying of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo and Baní, 31 March-8 April, 2014). The Third Workshop for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage took place in Haiti in April, and in May Cuba hosted a Meeting to Design the Strategy for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage in the country (Cienfuegos, 26-28 May 2014). In the framework of the project, the Dominican Republic received a new contribution for the safeguarding of its intangible heritage. The Regional Office for Culture also participated in the International Colloquium Twenty Years of the Nara Document: its contribution to the definition of the concept of intangible heritage, held in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, 24-26 September. The project Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Suriname (Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, 8-12 September) and the Ninth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO Headquarters, November 2014) were disseminated through the Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean. Some 70 news items and almost one hundred events on the topic held in the region were also disseminated through the Portal, as well as examples of best practices for safeguarding this unique heritage, such as those developed in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela.

In 2014 several promotion and capacity-building actions were held on the safeguarding of this heritage, in constant danger and very difficult to preserve. One of the more recent activities was the second Foundation Course in Underwater Archaeology for Caribbean States in St. Eustatius and Saba, held in St. Eustatius island last November with the support of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture. The Office also participated in the International Symposium Submerged Cultural Heritage: A Global Outlook, hosted by the Colombian city of Barranquilla. Of great importance was the participation of the UNESCO Office in Port-au-Prince in the expert mission of the Organisation in Haiti to investigate the possible wreckage of the Santa Maria, Christopher Columbus' flagship. Educational activities on the safeguarding of cultural heritage included a panel in the framework of the Book Fair Cuba 2014 and a cycle of films on underwater cultural heritage shown in Havana. The Cuban capital also hosted the exhibition "Dutch Presence in Cuban Waters", with artefacts and photographs displaying the results of research on the existence of the remains of Dutch vessels in Cuban territorial waters during the 17th century. The exhibition was organised in the framework of the project implemented by the Maritime Programme of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE - Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed). The Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean also echoed several actions for the protection of the underwater cultural heritage in the region, such as the joint efforts made by Mexico and Spain in this respect and the technical workshop held in Uruguay to promote the ratification of the 2001 Convention on the protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage by this Member State.

The 20th anniversary of this UNESCO project in Latin America and the Caribbean also deserved special attention and received extensive coverage through the Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean. A webpage and an issue of the Newsletter were devoted to this celebration, thereby disseminating the commemorative actions organised in Argentina, Brazil, Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guadalupe, Mexico, Panama, Peru, St. Kitts & Nevis, Uruguay and Venezuela. Likewise, the Portal informed of the commemorative event held at UNESCO Headquarters. It also disseminated close to 70 pieces of information on other activities and events organised in the region in the framework of the project and echoed UNESCO’s adherence to the launching of the International Decade for People of African Descent, which will run from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2024.

As part of its functions, in 2014 the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean continued strengthening the cooperative relationship maintained for many years with the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America (CRESPIAL) and the Regional Centre for the Promotion of the Book in Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLALC). The Regional Office also represents UNESCO within the Management Board of each organisation, both of which are UNESCO Category 2 Centres. At present, UNESCO collaborates with both Centres in the implementation of the new integrated global strategy for category 2 institutes and centres adopted in 2013 by the Organisation. The Officer in charge of the Regional Office for Culture represented the UNESCO Director-General at the 13th Meeting of the CRESPIAL Executive Committee (January 2014) and at the 9th Meeting of the CRESPIAL Management Board (November 2014). The Portal of Culture disseminated actions implemented by CRESPIAL in its Member States as well as the new digital publications and the Map of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Latin America online since 2014 in the Centre's website. With respect to CERLALC, the UNESCO Havana Officer in charge took part in the 51st Ordinary Meeting of the CERLALC Executive Committee, held in Bogotá, Colombia, last November. The Portal reported the Centre's main achievements in the Biennium 2012-2013, and published important CERLALC documents, such as the digital book Alfabetización: una ruta de aprendizaje multimodal para toda la vida.

Coordinated and financed by the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2002, as requested by the region's Member States, the Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean is today the Culture section of the UNESCO Office in Havana website. The Portal provides ongoing coverage of UNESCO Culture activities in the region and disseminates the Latin American and Caribbean cultural agenda in order to facilitate the promotion of best practices and further the dialogue among Latin American and Caribbean Member States. The Portal also publishes updated information on cultural institutions in the region as well as news on UNESCO priorities and programmes and relevant information on cultural actions developed by the region's Member States. Since 2008, the Portal publishes a thematic bilingual Newsletter, which is distributed to more than 2,000 addressees, including governmental and non-governmental cultural institutions, personalities of Latin American and Caribbean Culture, National Commissions, UNESCO Offices all over the world, specialists at UNESCO Headquarters, as well as individual subscribers. In 2014 issues 11 and 12 were released, dedicated respectively to the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Slave Route in Latin America and the Caribbean and to the Caribbean Action Plan for World Heritage 2014-2019. During 2014 over 18,000 updates were introduced in the Portal, in both Spanish and English, which has considerably increased its database, comprised today by over 183,000 entries.

The UNESCO Office in Havana, as part of the Inter-Agency Gender Group of the UN system in Cuba, has continued participating in actions to strengthen the implementation of the UN Secretary-General's campaign: UNiTE to put an end to violence against women and girls. In this framework, the activities began in February with the Inter-Agency Panel In the Avellaneda's Bicentennial: Communicate with Gender, organised as part of the Book Fair Cuba 2014 Programme, in honour of the Cuban writer Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, one of Cuba's outstanding female voices of 19th century. In addition, UNESCO Havana facilitated the coordination in Cuba of the actions organised in 2014 by UNiTE Artists Network; participated in capacity-building workshops Culture vs. violence; collaborated in the debate on Gender and Society sponsored by the Cuban autonomous cultural project Circuito Líquido (Liquid Circuit); and celebrated the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls with a cultural programme at its Office facilities. The Portal of Culture disseminated the second UNESCO Gender Equality Action Plan 2014-2021 as well as information on events held in Argentina and Venezuela on the topic. As a coda to these activities, the UN System in Cuba granted for the third consecutive time the UNiTE award in the framework of the 36th International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema, given on this occasion to the Argentinean film Refugiado (Refugee).

The UNESCO Office in Havana implements a group of initiatives aimed at stimulating the development of creative industries in the region. One of the most outstanding is Caribbean Cameras of Diversity, a sub-regional project prepared by experts and professionals of the audiovisual and film industry in the Caribbean with the technical support of UNESCO specialists. It is conceived as a roadmap to help join forces and coordinate actions to strengthen the audio-visual industry at the regional level. In the framework of this project, UNESCO Havana has sponsored and collaborated for several years with the Cuban film festival Muestra Joven (Youth Showcase), where the Cameras of Diversity Award is given. In 2014 it was awarded to the documentary Off Line by young Cuban filmmaker Yaima Pardo. This year, the Youth Showcase inaugurated the section Somos Caribe (We are the Caribbean), in line with the declaration of the Conference Cameras of Diversity for a Culture of Peace, organised in 2013 by UNESCO in Trinidad & Tobago. Another cinema initiative sponsored from the start by the Office is the Travelling Caribbean Film Showcase, which reached its 6th edition in 2014. Likewise, the Office has collaborated in 2014 with several Cuban projects, among them the Low-Budget Film Festival in Gibara, Holguín (as part of its 2014 programme, that festival presented the audiovisual promo Culture=Economic Development); the Proelectronica 2014 festival, a door open to artistic creation and cultural diversity; the Sustainable Cultural Practices Laboratory, a University of the Arts of Cuba project; and the Scenic Trespasses International Workshop of Research and Creation, a novel approach to the performing arts. The UNESCO Regional Office for Culture also promoted activities such as the organisation of Bird's Eye View Workshops in Havana, an initiative aimed at supporting the participation of women filmmakers from the Caribbean in the region's film industry. In 2014, UNESCO Havana sponsored and disseminated the celebration in Cuba of World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (21 May), as well as the celebration of International Jazz Day (30 April) in Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and echoed the activities on the occasion of that International Day in Costa Rica, Ecuador and Uruguay. UNESCO Havana also supported the presentation in Cuba of the Hemingway Suite, premiered in the framework of the Concierto de las dos orillas, an initiative of the project Puentes Culturales (Cultural Bridges) Habana-Key West. The Office also collaborated with the presentation in Havana of a photographic showcase in the framework of the Havana World Music Festival, and sponsored both the Verso a Verso Concert, an initiative of the Cuban visual artist Maykel Herrera to sing to childhood and peace, and the ceremony to donate money raised in the concert to a Rehabilitation Centre for Children in Old Havana. The Portal of Culture also spread information on best practices aimed at stimulating the activity of creative industries in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as the ones carried out in Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Peru and Venezuela. Through the Portal's Cultural Agenda the region's main events related to this topic may be found, among them film and music festivals and book fairs. The Portal also provided information on the 8th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the 2005 Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which took place at UNESCO Headquarters from 9 to 11 December. In 2014, the Portal disseminated over 90 news items and nearly 250 events on cultural industries, and added to its database some 30 documents and 20 new institutions related to them in the 33 Member States and one territory of the region.

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UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, Havana, Cuba:
Fernando Brugman, Olga Rufins, Elba Suárez, Junior González, Elena Nápoles, Pablo Castilla and Julissa Ureña.

Contributions to this edition: UNESCO World Heritage Centre, UNESCO Offices in Montevideo (Uruguay), Quito (Ecuador), San José (Costa Rica), Lima (Peru), Kingston (Jamaica) and Port-au-Prince (Haiti), CRESPIAL and CERLALC.